Plate printing machine



M. A. LATHEY PLATE PRINT ING MACHINE Filed July 16-, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor mo A. Marni,

m m m m m m Eg m 5% M m ==m m m E m m =W Attorney.

Dec. 1, 1942. AQgA'rI-IEY 2,303,646

PLATE PRIN'IING mcamr:

Filed July 16, 1941 2; Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor men A. 1.4mm

. At tornay.

Patented Dec. 1, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

3 Claims.

My present invention relates to improvements in plate-printing and appertains particularly to a machine for the multicolor inking of an intaglio, etched, engraved or other undersurface printing plate.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved means for multicolor printing from under surface printing plates after the method set forth in my co-pending application #384,185, filed March 19, 194.1, out of which this has been divided.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a means for printing from undersurface printing plates in two or more colors at one and the same operation.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a means for printing from undersurface printing plates in two or more colors, wherein a second color or second application of a colored ink or inks is superimposed on the plate directly over the initially laid color or C010Is to enter the cuts or depressions in the plate not already filled by the first laid color or colors.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a means for printing from undersurface printing plates in two or more colors wherein a first color or colors are laid in stripes on the plate by banded rollers and another color applied to the plates to overlie the first applied band of color or colors and fill all the cuts or depressions in the plate not already filled by the first laid color or colors and thereby provide perfect, precise or absolute meeting lines for the respective band of colors.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a means for printing bank notes and the like from undersurface printing plates, wherein a multiplicity of forms is reproduced on a single plate and wherein vertical, horizontal, or other bands or stripes of distinctive colors are desired to be laid for underlying tints, involving the laying of one or more spaced bands of ink of the same or diiierent colors onto the plates and subsequently superimposing another color or colors of ink to the cuts or depressions not already filled by the first bands of colors and subsequently wiping and polishing the plates to remove all the surface ink whereby an impression may be made in multiple color, with true and perfect matching of the several colors, at one and the same operation.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a means for printing from undersurface printing plates on either rotary or fiat bed .presses, in multiple color at one and the-55 trated in the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the claims hereunto appended.

The invention will be best understoodand'canbe more clearly described when reference is-had to the drawings forming a part of this disclosure, wherein like characters indicate like.

parts throughout the several views.

In the drawings: 7

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a rotarypress-embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof, partly shown in section;

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the inking rollers and plate carrying cylinder;

Figure 4 is a corresponding elevation atom of the plates'on the cylinder after inking, wipingand polishing;

Figure 5 is the adaptation of same invention to a fiat bed press; and

Figures 6 and 7 diagrammatically illustrate; further modified coloringschemes.

My invention concerns the making of animprint from an engraved or other intagliogor undersurface printing plate in a plurality ofcolors, at the one time by making variouslines on a print, such as a bank note, in a plurality of colors which is not possible to do by customary practice of printing; each color separately and. making a separate impression witheach color.v When close registration of. intaglio printing. is done, ithas been customary to maketwo or more operations but it has not. heretofore been practical to make the various:

printings at different lines continuous or'in absolutely perfect registry when portions of these lines are printed at different operations in different colors. With my invention, besides perfect registry of colors,3with but a minimum of blending, I obtain perfect-registry of line since the multicolor print. in a single impression of the plate.

Methods of undersurfaceprinting difierent portions of an engraved plate.in.,.difierent..-colors.

is madehave been tried by making the contours of each inking roller to correspond with the portions of the design printed in a given color and these rollers caused to spot or deposit their respective colors on the plate but this is practical only in large plates or where the portions printed in different colors are more or less separated. Moreover, it would be very difficult if not impossible in printing bank notes to make an inking roller 50 the same design in each color would be transferred truly to each small unit on the plate.

In my invention, perfect registry of the inking portions of inking rollers is not needed since the color applied by the second roller can extend completely over the areas in one or more colors by the first roller. This process, furthermore, avoids most of the blending that usually occurs between different colors and provides as nearly as possible perfectly registering lines between the colors. While this invention is particularly designed with a view to printing tint colors for the background of bank notes and the like, for which it is especially valuable, in that it will greatly improve their artistic appearance and render their counterfeiting more difficult, it is likewise adaptable to a wide range of uses, particularly those wherein a large number of engraved units are transferred to one plate as the usual difficulty of securing true registry of multiple colors is avoided.

In order not to unnecessarily lengthen the specification and increase the number of drawings, only such parts of the apparatus have been shown and will be described in detail as are necessary to clearly disclose and permit an adequate understanding of the invention by those skilled in the art, and other features of the machine will only be referred to and described in general.

In the usual ink fountains i0, 10a, I provide colored inks l l, Ila or if desired these fountains may be divided. with the usual partitions (not shown) in everyday use and thus two or more differentcolors laterally-placed, may be used in one fountain.

The first fountain l supplies the usual roller l2 and through a train of distributing rollers l3 inks the inking roller 14 that deposits its ink on the engraved plate l on the cylinder [8. To apply a continuous stripe of color from the fountain I0 to-the plate l5, this inking roller is provided with a band l4 and only this band is inked. When a number of units are set up in the plate I5, as the twenty-four such units i1 shown in Figures 3 and 4, these units being set in three rows, consequently require three bands l4 properly placed on the roller [4.

The ink from the fountain la is supplied to the plate through the roller l2a, distributing rollers l3a and an inking roller Ma. As shown, this inking roller Ma may be continuous the full width of the plate, though if the saving of ink were a factor, it could be cut away near where it registers with the bands laid down by the first roller or dividers could be used in th ink fountain but in any case it is desired that the inking by the second inking roller Ma should overlap the inking by the first roller M to insure a true and unbroken joining line.

As the cylinder 16 revolves in the direction indicated by the arrow the plate l5 with its twentyfour units I1 is first linked with the spaced bands (of say, blue color ink) 20, indicated by horizontal lines, that run down the center of each of the of the plate already inked units. on the plate, and then this inking is overrun by the second inking roller Ha that applies its colored ink (say, red) over the whole area 2!, indicated by the vertical lines. This second inking, however, does not enter the etched lines in the plate first filled with the ink bands 20, so when the wiping and polishing is done by the usual mechanism indicated generally at 22, the overlying second application of ink is completely removed and clearly marked and well defined color areas remain, as shown in Figure 4, so that a true impression is taken on a sheet of paper fed onto plate 15 and run under impression rollers Hi.

In Figure 5, the adaptation of the invention to a fiat-bed press is shown. The first and second inking rollers 25 and 25a depositing successively on the plate 26 on the press 21.

A three color lay-out is shown in Figure 6, the first roller l4 being inked with two colors, spaced bands of say blue 20, shown in horizontal lines, and a central band say of yellow 20a, shown in criss-cross and the second roller Ma filling say red 2| between the central yellow band 20a and the two outer bands of blue 20, giving a note 29 of five balanced vertical stripes of color, blue, yellow, red, yellow and blue respectively. In the simplified design shown in Figure 7, the first inking roller I4 carries a spaced pair of raised bands M for each row of units transferred on the plate; one depositing, say, a blue stripe 20 and the other, say, a yellow stripe 26a, while the second roller Ma again spreads, say, red ink 2| over the whole plate, resulting in a note 30 having three vertical color stripes of blue, red and yellow, respectively.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be manifest that an improved machine for plate printing in multicolor from a single plate at one operation is provided that will fulfill all the necessary requirements of such a device, but as many changes could be made in the above description and many apparently widely different embodiments of the invention may be constructed within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit or scope thereof, it is intended that all matters contained in the foregoing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitative or restrictive sense.

Having thus described the invention, whatI claim is:

1. A plate printing machine for undersurface printing in multicolor from a single plate in one impression comprising, in combination with an engraved, intaglio or other undersurface printing plate and a movable support therefor, inking rollers mounted adjacent said movable support to contact said printing plate successively, one of said inking rollers applying ink to a limited area or areas of said plate, and a second of said inking rollers engaging and applying ink to uninked areas of said plate and to at least partly cover the area or areas already inked and means for removing the surface ink.

2. For undersurface printing from plates in more than one color, the combination with a re-' volving cylinder and plate of inking rollers mounted adjacent said cylinder to contact said plate, one of said rollers having a limited contacting area or areas for applying ink to a limited area or areas of said plate, and a second of said inking rollers, disposed to subsequently ink the plate, and having a plate contacting area offset from or overlapping the plate contacting area of said first roller to apply ink to uninked areas of said plate and to at least partly cover .the area or.

ing areas for inking relatively limited areas of said plate and the second of said rollers having other, ofiset or larger plate engaging areas for applying ink to the plate some at least of which is superimposed over said first roller applied ink and to extend beyond the areas so inked by said first roller and means for removing the surface ink and polishing and wiping the plate.

MYRON A. LATHEY. 

